New Delhi: Several Indian films, well received abroad, are not accessible to the audience at home, because of the distribution system in the country, says veteran film director Adoor Gopalakrishnan.

Adoor said that he was trying to get his recent Malayalam film 'Nizhalkuthu' (shadow kill), screened at Venice and Toronto Film Festivals, subtitled in English and released simultaneously in cities across the country in January, when it is shown in France.

"This way you can at least tap the elite audience," Adoor said, resenting that non- Hindi films made in the country are not accessible to people outside the state of origin.

"A sizeable population, especially the young, interested in seeing good films do not get to see them, as distributors are not willing to take a particular type of films," Adoor, one of the torchbearers of parallel cinema movement, said at the 33rd International Film Festival of India.

A culture has been built up, where only those films made on a fixed formula are released by distributors, and this makes the audience also expect such movies, he said.

"If there is no good looking boy and girl in the film, the audience start getting restless," he quipped.

"Releasing these films in 100 cinema halls in the country, would equal 100 days in one place," he said.

"I have always been particular that my films reach the audience and tried hard for that. It is important that you show your films to India, to your own audience," he added.

Adoor said that some distributors told him that 'Nizhalkuthu' will not sell in the Hindi Belt. "Now, I don't know what this Hindi belt means," he said.

Though many of his films have been released on TV, he is not satisfied with that. "A TV frame does not stay in your eyes as much as it does on screen. At the end of the day, you see only 57 per cent of my film," he said.

He contrasted this with the reception for his film abroad, where "over a dozen foreign distributors approached me".

Talking about some films which tried to travel the route between commercial and 'art' cinema, Adoor said that there was no "middle path" in film making.

"I don't believe in the middle approach. It is a compromise and is not acceptable," he said, comparing it to a bribe, whether it is of Rs 5 or five million.

"Everything should be said with conviction and film makers should respect intelligence of their audience," he added.

He said that the parallel cinema movement lost its sheen because many people made films, which the audience did not understand, and became "overnight geniuses".

"They make films, release them. The audience does not like it, and they say 'I have made an art film.' All of them are grouped together as part of parallel cinema movement".

Asked about government financing and production of films, he said that his experience in getting finance was tough in the beginning. "But now I can pick and choose my producers," he said.

PTI